Here’s a TEDx video by Will Ricahrdson, one of our authors from last week, in which he shares a couple examples of young people benefitting from learning networks that exist beyond their formal classroom environments. (If you’re not familiar with TED talks, they’re essentially short poignant talks about complex, challenging issues. You can learn more about them here.) He uses this as a springboard for sharing his perceptions of how he sees the changing roles of teachers and the difference between learning and test prep (e.g., high stakes testing). Probably one of the most compelling points in his talk is when he points to the difficulty associated with adapting to this changing educational environment because this is the system that we have had for the last 100+ years and therefore, the system that most parents and teachers have known growing up. Thoughts? What about his talk resonates with you the most?
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I loved the example about his daughter learning to play music on her own. Watching my own kids go through so much testing has been eye-opening. I didn’t go through so much testing or feel so pressured by the school to do well. My daughter was physically ill the week of state testing and it definitely wasn’t from me pressuring her. With all of the increased testing, the students that I see at the college level are further behind with higher order thinking abilities every year. It seems to me that teaching to a test has turned students into memorizing and forgetting machines. How to fix it? That is the big question!
@Karen – I really like how you push back against this and critically analyze it. Critically reasoned insights are absolutely important when thinking through new approaches, etc. That said, I think one of the messages I see Richardson driving at here is not so much an instructional recipe for teachers but simple awareness when it’s all too easy to dismiss these networks as nothing but silly, little recreational outlets for teen gossip. While plenty of that certainly happens, Richardson also shows that it serves as a venue for powerful, meaningful, and authentic learning. These new contexts prompt us to step outside our comfort zones and re-examine the assumptions (some tacit) and epistemological beliefs we have about teaching and learning.
I’m always hyper critical of TED Talks, by the way.
Because I think they are fabulous.
There’s a lot of good thoughts in this video, but not a lot of ideas. Think differently? Ok, how? I get that it’s a call to arms, but there are no suggestions about how to accomplish anything other than “scream at people”. Yeah, I’m not sure how productive that would be. I totally get what he is trying to say symbolically, but I sort of kept waiting for him to say something real. Perhaps he means this talk as the first step because he does seem to offer actual ideas in other places.
Indeed a poignant delivery on the need to ‘stop talking better’ and ‘start talking different’ in the context of learning as life preparation vs. learning as test preparation. It is important not to rob the young of their imagination and initiatives but equally important is the clarify the purpose of education.
Personally I have not been in touch with the Singapore education system for a very long time but I read about it, e.g. http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/desired-outcomes/ and hear about the autonomy given to public schools and competition between schools in providing niche values and increase in project works to give students more learning experience beside preparing for national exams at grade 6, 10 and 12. Over 10 years ago, the Singapore government saw a need to raise the salary of school teachers up to super scale, and invite professionals from the private sector to consider a mid career change to teaching so that real work experiences can be incorporated into their curriculum.
The world has really changed/changing with the onset of Web 2.0 technologies and now as Will said, we have 2 billion potential teachers for this generation of learners.
Thank you for sharing this 14 min. video